Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock'n'Roll

Zodia Markets' Nick Philpott on stablecoins, FX and why the future of cross-border payments may already be emerging outside traditional banking Cross-border money still moves through chains of banks, separate ledgers and settlement cut-offs. Where correspondent banking has retreated, access can matter as much as speed. Can stablecoins provide the needed infrastructure? Jonas Gross and guest host Jonathan Knoll welcome Nick Philpott, co-founder of Zodia Markets, to BFRR's digital money interview series. Drawing on his years at Standard Chartered and his work on Libra, Philpott explains why stablecoins address problems that look very different from London, Lagos or Singapore. His journey begins with client dinners in Nigeria paid for with bricks of cash, and a brother mining Bitcoin to buy virtual spaceships. Those experiences lead into a discussion of fragmented payment networks, currency controls and the gaps left by banks withdrawing from certain markets. Philpott makes the case for putting cash on-chain before expecting tokenised securities markets to deliver their full benefits. The conversation examines where stablecoins, tokenised deposits and wholesale CBDCs fit, and why moving to 24/7 settlement requires changes to treasury operations, liquidity management and the repo market. Dollar dominance is another central theme. Philpott sees opportunities for non-dollar stablecoins where local currencies are difficult to access, time zones constrain settlement or regional trade creates demand. Their success, he argues, may depend more on transaction velocity than market capitalisation. Zodia Markets offers a view of wholesale execution: Philpott reports an average transaction size of $2.4 million and describes a $120 million trade settled in 90 minutes. He outlines plans for more currency corridors, payments, on-chain FX and tokenised money market funds. The episode closes with a revealing observation from banking conferences: some executives debate stablecoins in public while using them privately. For banks, restrictive risk policies can also conceal demand as clients move their transactions elsewhere. Nick Philpott LinkedIn Standard Chartered - Non-USD Stablecoins Report Zodia Markets - The 200-Year-Old Stablecoin Debate Jonathan Knoll LinkedIn Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Website Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Telegram Channel Relai*: Buy Bitcoin with Relai—you can do a one-time purchase or savings plan: Click here. Use the referral code "ROCK" to reduce transaction fees by 0.1% while supporting Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll. Value4Value Podcast Streaming: Support our podcast by listening to our episodes on the Fountain Podcast App. This way, if you wish, you can support us "Value4Value" while listening to the podcast. You can find us on the Fountain Podcast App here: Click here Disclaimer: The content of this podcast reflects the private opinions of the hosts, serves exclusively for general information purposes and does not constitute investment advice. Always remember: Do your own research—inform yourself before making any investment decisions, such as buying Bitcoin. First try to understand what Bitcoin is and how to store it. This podcast does not provide financial advice. Note that the co-hosts might be invested in crypto assets. Read more on our website: Click here All links marked with "*" are affiliate links. If you use these links for purchase, the podcast receives a small share of the revenue without any additional costs to you. On the contrary, affiliate links often include discount promotions, so you can even save money. We would appreciate it if you use these links to support us. Thank you very much!

Jai Massari on Libra's legacy, stablecoins, tokenized deposits, regulation and what it will take to make digital money and stablecoins mainstream Stablecoins can move money around the world. But when is a payment legally complete, what happens if an issuer fails, and can the same token be used across jurisdictions? In this new episode of Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll, Jonas Gross and guest host Jonathan Knoll of etonec speak with Jai Massari, a Lightspark co-founder, former Davis Polk partner and now of counsel at Arktouros. Having helped design Libra’s legal architecture, she brings a perspective on what makes digital money work. Massari revisits Libra’s ambitions and the weight of its Facebook origins. The project’s reserve design and redemption mechanics remain relevant, she argues, even though its technology could not overcome the policy obstacles. Its consortium model also leaves an open question: can shared distribution and scale outweigh the difficulty of making decisions among competitors? The discussion then examines stablecoins and tokenized deposits. A bank deposit remains a claim on a bank; a regulated, reserve-backed stablecoin has a different economic structure. Their usefulness depends on the payment: speed, funding costs and existing banking connections all matter. On stablecoin regulation, Massari discusses the US GENIUS Act, Europe’s MiCA and the distinction between stablecoin issuance and the broader market-structure debate around CLARITY. She also questions whether comprehensive crypto legislation could constrain innovation before the industry has developed its most useful applications. For cross-border payments, the missing pieces include recognition of foreign issuers, certainty over payment and collateral use, and comparable rules for reserves, redemption and insolvency. Without coordination, blockchain payments risk inheriting familiar financial frictions. The episode closes with agentic payments: how AI agents can prove their authority, who is responsible when they exceed it, and why existing agency and contract law may provide a starting point for the next generation of payments. Jai Massari LinkedIn [Jai Massari Article on stablecoin myth busting] (https://openbanker.beehiiv.com/p/stablecoinmythbusting) [Jai Massari Article on singleness of stablecoins] (https://openbanker.beehiiv.com/p/stablecoinsingleness) Jai Massari Atlantic Council article on global stablecoin regulation Jonathan Knoll LinkedIn Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Website Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Telegram Channel Relai*: Buy Bitcoin with Relai—you can do a one-time purchase or savings plan: Click here. Use the referral code "ROCK" to reduce transaction fees by 0.1% while supporting Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll. Value4Value Podcast Streaming: Support our podcast by listening to our episodes on the Fountain Podcast App. This way, if you wish, you can support us "Value4Value" while listening to the podcast. You can find us on the Fountain Podcast App here: Click here Disclaimer: The content of this podcast reflects the private opinions of the hosts, serves exclusively for general information purposes and does not constitute investment advice. Always remember: Do your own research—inform yourself before making any investment decisions, such as buying Bitcoin. First try to understand what Bitcoin is and how to store it. This podcast does not provide financial advice. Note that the co-hosts might be invested in crypto assets. Read more on our website: Click here All links marked with "*" are affiliate links. If you use these links for purchase, the podcast receives a small share of the revenue without any additional costs to you. On the contrary, affiliate links often include discount promotions, so you can even save money. We would appreciate it if you use these links to support us. Thank you very much!

ECBs Pontes goes live, tokenized deposit and stablecoin consortias form and equities are represented on token form on chain. September brought two parts of digital finance into sharper focus: the money used to settle tokenized assets and the markets where those assets trade. The Eurosystem launched Pontes, connecting DLT-based wholesale transactions to central bank money. A group of 21 financial institutions advanced plans for a joint dollar stablecoin. In the United States, the SEC opened a conditional route for trading tokenized stocks after the CLARITY Act failed to advance in the Senate. In this September news episode, Michael and Manuel Klein are joined by Anne-Sophie Gógl, Chairwoman of the Digital Euro Association and Digital Money Lead at KPMG Germany. They examine Pontes’s two settlement modes, the importance of legal finality in T2 and the ECB’s plan to invest a small portion of its own funds in tokenized public-sector securities. They also discuss the digital euro pilot’s search for online merchants and the Eurosystem’s proposals to revisit MiCA’s stablecoin reserve rules. Beyond central bank money, banks and fintechs are building competing payment routes. The question is whether these networks will connect or create another set of isolated pools of liquidity. Then the focus shifts to securities. Nasdaq’s planned $100 million investment in Payward, parent of Kraken, and the London Stock Exchange’s separate partnership with Payward bring crypto-native distribution closer to regulated market infrastructure. Coinbase’s stock-backed tokens on Base add a different model, with distinct legal rights and limits on who can use it. What happens to custody, shareholder rights and market oversight when a share can move through a wallet? The episode also covers Bitcoin and Ether’s September rebound, ETF flows and the debate over Germany’s crypto holding-period tax exemption. Together, these developments show how the next phase of digital finance will depend on the design of the cash leg, the legal structure of assets and the institutions connecting the two. Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Website Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Telegram Channel Knowledge Bite Michael: Paper of Bindseil et al. “The Multi-Issuance Issue" Knowledge Bite Anne-Sophie: Agentic payments: when payments learn to think; Monthly Report – September 2026 Knowledge Bite Manuel: DB flow article: Interview with Thomas Vlassopoulos, Director General Market Infrastructure and Payments at the European Central Bank (ECB): “Europe has a window of opportunity – but it will not be open forever” Value4Value Podcast Streaming: Support our podcast by listening to our episodes on the Fountain Podcast App. This way, if you wish, you can support us "Value4Value" while listening to the podcast. You can find us on the Fountain Podcast App here: Click here Disclaimer: The content of this podcast reflects the private opinions of the hosts, serves exclusively for general information purposes and does not constitute investment advice. Always remember: Do your own research—inform yourself before making any investment decisions, such as buying Bitcoin. First try to understand what Bitcoin is and how to store it. This podcast does not provide financial advice. Note that the co-hosts might be invested in crypto assets. Read more on our website: Click here All links marked with "*" are affiliate links. If you use these links for purchase, the podcast receives a small share of the revenue without any additional costs to you. On the contrary, affiliate links often include discount promotions, so you can even save money. We would appreciate it if you use these links to support us. Thank you very much!

From US debt and dollar stablecoins to China's gold rails and Europe's euro-stablecoin push, why money has become a geopolitical weapon, and what the great reset means for the euro. Guest: Marieke Flament, Independent Board Director, Strategic Advisor & Co-Author, Currency of Power Marieke Flament on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mariekeflament Currency of Power (Marieke Flament & Nicolas Colin): currencyofpower.co Qivalis, the regulated euro stablecoin backed by European banks: qivalis.eu Ray Dalio, Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order (referenced in the episode) Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock'n'Roll: Website: bfrr.de Telegram: t.me/+jA3nMkERPtc5YjQ0 X: twitter.com/bfrr_podcast LinkedIn: Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock'n'Roll YouTube: channel Fountain: fountain.fm Buy Bitcoin on Relai, directly or as a savings plan: click here * With the referral code "ROCK" you can reduce the transaction fees by 0.1% and support Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock'n'Roll at the same time. All links marked with "*" are affiliate links. If you use these links to buy the recommended products, we receive a small share of the revenue at no extra cost to you. On the contrary, the affiliate links often come with discounts, so you can even save money (e.g. when buying Bitcoin via Relai). We would be grateful if you used these links to support us. Thank you!

What if your wallet could decide how to spend your money? AI agents can already search, compare, negotiate and initiate payments at machine speed. The harder question begins after the money has moved: was that specific transaction actually authorised? In part three of BFRR’s series on agentic payments, the host takes stock of two earlier conversations—with Sonja Davidovic of the IMF and Peter Großkopf of AllUnity. Their diagnoses align, yet their conclusions expose a fault line: probabilistic AI systems are being connected to payment infrastructure built around deterministic rules, binary outcomes and legal finality. The episode examines the IMF’s three-layer model for separating intent and orchestration, control and authorisation, and settlement. It asks where an agent’s mandate should live and whether cryptographic controls can turn spending limits into enforceable constraints. Stablecoins remain compelling for agent-to-service transactions, where fractions of a cent can determine whether payment for an API call, data fetch, article or AI inference is viable. Cards retain a powerful advantage in agent-to-merchant commerce: mature chargeback rules for judging disputes when goods fail to arrive or an agent makes the wrong decision. The deeper problem is legal. A payment may pass strong customer authentication and still fall outside the user’s mandate. Drawing on Nydia Remolina’s “bounded delegated authorisation” test, the episode explores how machine-readable constraints, runtime conformity and auditable evidence could distinguish valid delegation from an unauthorised payment. For banks, PSPs and payment networks, this creates a concrete agenda: define their role, build an evidence chain, establish “Know Your Agent” controls, create mandate dashboards and agree recourse arrangements with AI providers. The conclusion marks a shift in perspective. The money layer is becoming solvable. The binding constraint for agentic payments in Europe may now be the ability to prove what a customer actually authorised. Co-host Michael Blaschke’s solo stocktake after Sonja Davidovic (IMF) and Peter Grosskopf (AllUnity). Where stablecoins win, where cards keep chargebacks, and why PSD2 can’t tell you if your agent’s payment was authorized. Michael Blaschke on LinkedIn Part 1 of BFRR’s agentic payments series with Sonja Davidovic Part 2 of BFRR’s agentic payments series with Peter Grosskopf IMF Note: “How Agentic AI Will Reshape Payments” (IMF Note 2026/004, April 2026) by Sonja Davidovic and Hervé Tourpe Academic paper: “Agentic Payments: When is a Payment (Un)Authorized?” by Nydia Remolina (Singapore Management University) Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Website Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Telegram Channel Relai*: Buy Bitcoin with Relai—you can do a one-time purchase or savings plan: Click here. Use the referral code "ROCK" to reduce transaction fees by 0.1% while supporting Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll. Value4Value Podcast Streaming: Support our podcast by listening to our episodes on the Fountain Podcast App. This way, if you wish, you can support us "Value4Value" while listening to the podcast. You can find us on the Fountain Podcast App here: Click here Disclaimer: The content of this podcast reflects the private opinions of the hosts, serves exclusively for general information purposes and does not constitute investment advice. Always remember: Do your own research—inform yourself before making any investment decisions, such as buying Bitcoin. First try to understand what Bitcoin is and how to store it. This podcast does not provide financial advice. Note that the co-hosts might be invested in crypto assets. Read more on our website: Click here All links marked with "*" are affiliate links. If you use these links for purchase, the podcast receives a small share of the revenue without any additional costs to you. On the contrary, affiliate links often include discount promotions, so you can even save money. We would appreciate it if you use these links to support us. Thank you very much!

Manfred Richels and Tim Bailey explain commercial bank money tokens, their use cases and how they fit alongside stablecoins and CBDCs. Corporate balance sheets still run on commercial bank money, while the assets and business processes surrounding them are increasingly moving onto DLT networks. Commercial Bank Money Tokens (CBMTs) are designed to close that gap: they place a regulated bank liability directly on-chain without asking companies to adopt a fundamentally different form of money. In this episode, Dr. Jonas Groß and Manuel Klein speak with Manfred Richels, Head of Corporate Payments at the German Savings Banks Association (DSGV), and Tim Bailey, Chief Commercial Officer at Red Date Technology and a leader of the Universal Digital Payments Network (UDPN). They explain what makes a CBMT different from a stablecoin. A CBMT remains a claim against a regulated bank, can be redeemed at par into central bank money and may be interest-bearing. The DLT record becomes the primary source of truth. The conversation follows the token across a multi-bank transaction. When money moves from Bank A to Bank B, the first bank’s token is burned and the recipient bank issues a new token representing its own liability. Settlement between the banks follows separately in central bank money. This architecture is intended to make commercial bank money usable in smart contracts while retaining established compliance, accounting and risk-management treatment. Richels and Bailey also discuss the live Siemens–Evonik pay-per-use pilot, where sensor data and chemical consumption trigger an automated payment; programmable delivery-versus-payment; and agentic B2B payments in which an AI agent is cryptographically linked to an accountable person or entity. They examine the expansion of the CBMT initiative beyond Germany, the role of Pontes, Appia and Project Agorá, and the likely coexistence of tokenized deposits, stablecoins, CBDCs and conventional payment rails. At stake is a practical question: can banks make deposits programmable without sacrificing the legal certainty and controls that make them useful? Manfred Richels LinkedIn Tim Bailey LinkedIn CBMT Sandbox Video Demonstration Academic Paper - Structural Framework for Tokenized Money Networks Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Website Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Telegram Channel Relai*: Buy Bitcoin with Relai—you can do a one-time purchase or savings plan: Click here. Use the referral code "ROCK" to reduce transaction fees by 0.1% while supporting Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll. Value4Value Podcast Streaming: Support our podcast by listening to our episodes on the Fountain Podcast App. This way, if you wish, you can support us "Value4Value" while listening to the podcast. You can find us on the Fountain Podcast App here: Click here Disclaimer: The content of this podcast reflects the private opinions of the hosts, serves exclusively for general information purposes and does not constitute investment advice. Always remember: Do your own research—inform yourself before making any investment decisions, such as buying Bitcoin. First try to understand what Bitcoin is and how to store it. This podcast does not provide financial advice. Note that the co-hosts might be invested in crypto assets. Read more on our website: Click here All links marked with "*" are affiliate links. If you use these links for purchase, the podcast receives a small share of the revenue without any additional costs to you. On the contrary, affiliate links often include discount promotions, so you can even save money. We would appreciate it if you use these links to support us. Thank you very much!

Bitcoin jumps, custody goes institutional, and stablecoins push the next wave of digital money. August delivered few headlines, but the markets refused to take a summer break. In this BFRR Monthly Briefing, co-hosts Dr. Jonas Gross and Manuel Klein examine Bitcoin’s sharp rise from roughly $63,000 to nearly $79,000, renewed inflows into spot ETFs and the macroeconomic signal sent by the U.S. Treasury’s decision to expand buybacks of longer-dated bonds. They also assess President Trump’s latest meeting with crypto executives and ask what another delay to the CLARITY Act means for the United States—and whether Europe can turn regulatory stability into an advantage. The episode’s central question is more fundamental: Who should be trusted to safeguard digital assets? The COLDCARD incident, in which attackers exploited weak randomness in wallet seed generation and stole more than $100 million in Bitcoin, challenges the assumption that hardware wallets eliminate counterparty risk. Jonas and Manuel compare self-custody with institutional custody and explain why “don’t trust, verify” still depends on software, audits, operational discipline and human judgment. Citi’s forthcoming Bitcoin custody service provides the institutional counterpoint, combining digital assets with its broader Custody+ infrastructure. The discussion then turns to private forms of digital money. Tether has completed its first full audit of its financial statements, receiving an unqualified opinion from KPMG U.S. Revolut is bringing euros on-chain with EURR, a new stablecoin issued by Stripe-owned Bridge, while Circle has named major financial institutions as founding validators for its Arc network. Standard Chartered and HSBC, meanwhile, have completed the first live cross-border tokenized-deposit transaction on Swift’s blockchain-based ledger. In the Knowledge Bites, the hosts review a BaFin survey exposing persistent gaps in German investors’ understanding of crypto assets and a BlackRock paper on Bitcoin’s possible role in a traditional 60/40 portfolio. A concise look at the choices now shaping crypto custody, stablecoins and the future architecture of money. Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Website Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Telegram Channel Knowledge Bite Jonas: Re-Underwriting Bitcoin: Still a Portfolio Diversifier Knowledge Bite Manuel: Wissenslücken bei Krypto-Anlegerinnen und -Anlegern Value4Value Podcast Streaming: Support our podcast by listening to our episodes on the Fountain Podcast App. This way, if you wish, you can support us "Value4Value" while listening to the podcast. You can find us on the Fountain Podcast App here: Click here Disclaimer: The content of this podcast reflects the private opinions of the hosts, serves exclusively for general information purposes and does not constitute investment advice. Always remember: Do your own research—inform yourself before making any investment decisions, such as buying Bitcoin. First try to understand what Bitcoin is and how to store it. This podcast does not provide financial advice. Note that the co-hosts might be invested in crypto assets. Read more on our website: Click here All links marked with "*" are affiliate links. If you use these links for purchase, the podcast receives a small share of the revenue without any additional costs to you. On the contrary, affiliate links often include discount promotions, so you can even save money. We would appreciate it if you use these links to support us. Thank you very much!

A practitioner’s view on how stablecoins are powering the shift to agentic payments. AI agents can already search, compare and negotiate. The harder question begins when they need to pay. In the second episode of BFRR’s series on agentic payments and digital money, we move from the agent’s decision-making process to the money leg: Do autonomous agents need stablecoins, and where does that thesis break down? Guest Peter Grosskopf, CTO and COO of AllUnity, examines the issue from a practitioner’s perspective. Established by DWS, Flow Traders and Galaxy, AllUnity issues EURAU, CHFAU and SEKAU and develops infrastructure for AI-driven commerce. His background spans banking infrastructure, regulated exchanges, DeFi products and digital-asset policy. The discussion begins with a fundamental tension. AI systems are probabilistic; payment systems require deterministic authorisation, auditability and legal finality. Can budgets, approved counterparties and time-bound mandates be enforced through code, or must those controls remain with wallets and facilitators? The economic case becomes clearest in machine-to-machine transactions. Card fees can make tiny payments for an article, data query or API call uneconomical. Low-cost blockchain rails reduce the viable transaction size from several euros to a few cents, creating a market for services consumed one request at a time. AllUnity’s model combines discovery, checkout, x402-based payment facilitation and payout, making content searchable and purchasable by software. Stablecoins are not the answer for every transaction. Cards retain an advantage when physical goods, fraud or delivery failures make chargebacks essential. On-chain finality can become a liability when an agent errs. Escrow and programmable reversibility could narrow that gap if common standards emerge. The episode also addresses European liquidity, MiCAR and missing consumer infrastructure. The likely future is a division of labour: stablecoins for low-cost digital services; cards where acceptance and reversibility remain decisive. Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Website Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Telegram Channel Relai*: Buy Bitcoin with Relai—you can do a one-time purchase or savings plan: Click here. Use the referral code "ROCK" to reduce transaction fees by 0.1% while supporting Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll. Value4Value Podcast Streaming: Support our podcast by listening to our episodes on the Fountain Podcast App. This way, if you wish, you can support us "Value4Value" while listening to the podcast. You can find us on the Fountain Podcast App here: Click here Disclaimer: The content of this podcast reflects the private opinions of the hosts, serves exclusively for general information purposes and does not constitute investment advice. Always remember: Do your own research—inform yourself before making any investment decisions, such as buying Bitcoin. First try to understand what Bitcoin is and how to store it. This podcast does not provide financial advice. Note that the co-hosts might be invested in crypto assets. Read more on our website: Click here All links marked with "*" are affiliate links. If you use these links for purchase, the podcast receives a small share of the revenue without any additional costs to you. On the contrary, affiliate links often include discount promotions, so you can even save money. We would appreciate it if you use these links to support us. Thank you very much!

How the Coldcard hack, AI-powered attackers and a shift to payments and tokenized securities are reshaping digital-asset custody, and why the future of holding value is hybrid. Digital assets promise direct ownership. That promise becomes fragile when the technology protecting the keys contains a flaw—or when an AI agent acts faster than a human can supervise it. In this episode of Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock ’n’ Roll, Stefan Grasmann speaks with Kasper Luyckx, Head EMEA and Financial Institutions at Ledger, about the changing economics of digital asset custody. Luyckx previously worked on blockchain initiatives at UBS and led wallet and staking infrastructure at regulated custodian Crypto Finance. Luyckx explains software and hardware wallets, self-custody and regulated custody, and the governance required when institutions safeguard client assets. He also puts multi-signature, MPC and hardware security modules into context. A recent Coldcard vulnerability illustrates why offline storage cannot be treated as automatically secure. According to Luyckx, predictable seed generation reduced the randomness protecting certain wallets. If open-source code, audits and AI-assisted reviews can miss a critical weakness, what should “secure enough” mean? Ledger’s answer includes continuous testing by its internal security lab, the Donjon, and a growing use of AI in penetration testing and code review. Yet AI cuts both ways. It lowers the cost of discovering vulnerabilities for defenders and attackers, potentially creating a less secure transition period before defensive capabilities catch up. Banks increasingly want one custody layer for crypto assets, stablecoin payments and tokenized securities. That requires greater throughput, privacy, richer asset data and governance suited to complex instruments. Finally, Luyckx introduces Ledger’s approach to AI agents: let agents prepare transactions, but keep keys and final authority outside their reach. Human approval, hardware-backed identity and policy-based controls could provide the deterministic layer that probabilistic systems lack. The likely future is a hybrid custody model built around purpose, value and risk. [Guest:] Kasper Luyckx, Head of EMEA, Ledger, on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/kasperluyckx/)) Ledger Ledger 2026 AI Security Roadmap / Agent Stack Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Website Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Telegram Channel Relai*: Buy Bitcoin with Relai—you can do a one-time purchase or savings plan: Click here. Use the referral code "ROCK" to reduce transaction fees by 0.1% while supporting Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll. Value4Value Podcast Streaming: Support our podcast by listening to our episodes on the Fountain Podcast App. This way, if you wish, you can support us "Value4Value" while listening to the podcast. You can find us on the Fountain Podcast App here: Click here Disclaimer: The content of this podcast reflects the private opinions of the hosts, serves exclusively for general information purposes and does not constitute investment advice. Always remember: Do your own research—inform yourself before making any investment decisions, such as buying Bitcoin. First try to understand what Bitcoin is and how to store it. This podcast does not provide financial advice. Note that the co-hosts might be invested in crypto assets. Read more on our website: Click here All links marked with "*" are affiliate links. If you use these links for purchase, the podcast receives a small share of the revenue without any additional costs to you. On the contrary, affiliate links often include discount promotions, so you can even save money. We would appreciate it if you use these links to support us. Thank you very much! Buy Bitcoin on Relai, directly or as a savings plan: click here * With the referral code "ROCK" you can reduce the transaction fees by 0.1% and support Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock'n'Roll at the same time. All links marked with "*" are affiliate links. If you use these links to buy the recommended products, we receive a small share of the revenue at no extra cost to you. On the contrary, the affiliate links often come with discounts, so you can even save money (e.g. when buying Bitcoin via Relai). We would be grateful if you used these links to support us. Thank you!

IMF's Sonja Davidovic explains agentic AI, the architecture behind agentic payments and the opportunities and challenges ahead. Artificial intelligence has long supported payment decisions. Agentic AI goes further: it can interpret a user’s objective, decide what action to take and initiate a payment under delegated authority. That shift from “click to pay” to “decide and pay” could fundamentally change who, or what, participates in the financial system. In the first episode of a new BFRR series on agentic payments, hosts Jonas Gross and Michael Blaschke welcome back Sonja Davidovic of the International Monetary Fund. Drawing on the IMF note “How Agentic AI Will Reshape Payments,” co-authored with Hervé Tourpe, they separate credible potential from hype. Davidovic explains the core tension at the heart of the concept. AI systems reason probabilistically and adapt to new information. Payment infrastructures require clear authorization, auditability, legal finality and deterministic outcomes. A three-layer model offers a way to reconcile both worlds. Agents interpret intent and orchestrate actions in the first layer; mandates, budgets and authentication rules govern authorization in the second; established payment rails provide final settlement in the third. The discussion moves from architecture to practical applications. E-commerce may be the most immediate use case, covering product selection, payment and returns. Agents could also identify anomalies and trigger compliance procedures, while treasury and liquidity management may benefit from autonomous allocation across fragmented markets. The potential comes with difficult questions. How can an agent be prevented from exceeding its mandate? Who is liable when it makes the wrong decision? How can institutions contain cyber risk, protect personal data and explain opaque machine reasoning? What happens when thousands of agents react to the same market signal at once? The episode also examines whether credit cards, stablecoins, tokenized deposits or CBDCs are best suited to machine-initiated transactions. The answer may depend on the use case. Adoption, Davidovic argues, will ultimately be determined by authorization, accountability, governance and trust. Sonja Davidovic LinkedIn Paper: How Agentic AI Will Reshape Payments Previous BFRR Episode with Sonja Davidovic Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Website Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Telegram Channel Relai*: Buy Bitcoin with Relai—you can do a one-time purchase or savings plan: Click here. Use the referral code "ROCK" to reduce transaction fees by 0.1% while supporting Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll. Value4Value Podcast Streaming: Support our podcast by listening to our episodes on the Fountain Podcast App. This way, if you wish, you can support us "Value4Value" while listening to the podcast. You can find us on the Fountain Podcast App here: Click here Disclaimer: The content of this podcast reflects the private opinions of the hosts, serves exclusively for general information purposes and does not constitute investment advice. Always remember: Do your own research—inform yourself before making any investment decisions, such as buying Bitcoin. First try to understand what Bitcoin is and how to store it. This podcast does not provide financial advice. Note that the co-hosts might be invested in crypto assets. Read more on our website: Click here All links marked with "*" are affiliate links. If you use these links for purchase, the podcast receives a small share of the revenue without any additional costs to you. On the contrary, affiliate links often include discount promotions, so you can even save money. We would appreciate it if you use these links to support us. Thank you very much!

The stablecoin infrastructure wars officially begin. July 2026 offered further evidence that blockchain-based finance is moving beyond experimentation. Stablecoins are entering banking relationships, tokenized deposits are gaining transaction volume, and established market infrastructures are preparing for production. In this monthly briefing episode of Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock ’n’ Roll, Michael Blaschke and Manuel Klein are joined by Nadine Wilke, Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer at Particula, to examine the month’s most consequential developments in institutional DLT. The discussion begins with a subdued crypto market. Bitcoin remained within a narrow trading range, while Ethereum faced greater volatility amid restructuring at the Ethereum Foundation. Strategy’s latest Bitcoin sale also challenged one of the market’s most persistent narratives: that the company would never sell its holdings. Attention then turns to stablecoins. The launch of OpenUSD introduces an issuer-agnostic model backed by a consortium of more than 140 companies. Circle, meanwhile, is pursuing two routes into mainstream finance: deeper integration with banks through Standard Chartered and greater independence through its US national trust bank approval. UBS, Visa, Ramp and Merge illustrate how stablecoins are gradually becoming infrastructure for corporate treasury, cross-border settlement and business payments. Tokenized deposits are developing along several competing paths. JPMorgan’s Kinexys has added five Asia-Pacific currencies and reports billions of dollars in daily transaction volume. Swift plans to position its new ledger above bank-issued deposit tokens, while Project Agorá brings commercial and central banks together for cross-border settlement. The US-based Carrington network is developing another shared model for community banks. Capital-market infrastructure is progressing as well. DTCC has completed a major tokenization exercise ahead of a planned production launch, while Clearstream has issued DLT-native commercial paper that was subsequently mobilized as Eurosystem collateral. The episode also examines the digital euro, the stalled US CLARITY Act, Robinhood’s tokenized stock offering, Morgan Stanley’s entry into crypto spot trading and the changing design of China’s e-CNY. Together, these developments reveal an industry replacing broad promises with regulated access, interoperable infrastructure and production-grade financial services. Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Website Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Telegram Channel Knowledge Bite Michael: How Agentic AI Will Reshape Payments Knowledge Bite Manuel: The Shift in China's CBDC (Digital Yuan) Policy and Key Implications Knowledge Bite Manuel: China’s Central Bank Digital Currency 2.0 and the Future of Digital Finance Knowledge Bite Nadine: Tokenization's $140 Trillion Problem Knowledge Bite Nadine: Who is actually buying RWAs? Value4Value Podcast Streaming: Support our podcast by listening to our episodes on the Fountain Podcast App. This way, if you wish, you can support us "Value4Value" while listening to the podcast. You can find us on the Fountain Podcast App here: Click here Disclaimer: The content of this podcast reflects the private opinions of the hosts, serves exclusively for general information purposes and does not constitute investment advice. Always remember: Do your own research—inform yourself before making any investment decisions, such as buying Bitcoin. First try to understand what Bitcoin is and how to store it. This podcast does not provide financial advice. Note that the co-hosts might be invested in crypto assets. Read more on our website: Click here All links marked with "*" are affiliate links. If you use these links for purchase, the podcast receives a small share of the revenue without any additional costs to you. On the contrary, affiliate links often include discount promotions, so you can even save money. We would appreciate it if you use these links to support us. Thank you very much!

The go-live moment: can competitors actually organize around shared neutral infrastructure? In this episode of Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll, co-host Michael Blaschke and guest host Stefan speak with Ivica Aracic, CTO at SWIAT, about Regulated Layer One, or RL1: a market-neutral, Ethereum-based network designed for Europe’s regulated financial sector. RL1 enters a market that has spent years testing digital bonds, repo transactions and digital money, yet still lacks a common platform on which these instruments can interact at scale. Aračić explains why public permissionless networks remain difficult for major regulated institutions to depend on, while private and corporate chains can restrict openness and neutrality. RL1 seeks a middle ground: a thin permissioning layer, identifiable responsibilities and institutional controls, combined with an open platform on which regulated participants can build their own assets and services. The discussion examines RL1’s cooperative governance, SWIAT’s role as a replaceable technical operator, and the separation between the platform and the services built above it. It also confronts the central challenge: persuading major institutions to join a shared utility when many have strong incentives to protect their own systems. The guests place RL1 within the Eurosystem’s Pontes and Appia initiatives. Pontes could connect market DLTs with central bank money in TARGET Services, while Appia is developing a longer-term blueprint. Aračić distinguishes confirmed work from ambition: Pontes integration belongs at the service layer, and any future role for RL1 in hosting tokenised wholesale central bank money remains a proposition rather than an ECB commitment. Can RL1 become the “crystallization point” where tokenised securities, commercial bank money, stablecoins and wholesale central bank money meet? Or will network effects accrue to corporate chains and international rivals such as Canton? This episode offers a candid assessment of one of Europe’s most consequential digital-finance experiments. Ivica Aračić at LinkedIn Ivica Aračić’s Newsletter Regulated Layer One Website ASAP: A Conceptual Model for Digital Asset Platforms SWIAT Research Previous BFRR Episode with Ivica Aračić on “Architecting DLT Financial Infrastructures” Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Website Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Telegram Channel Relai*: Buy Bitcoin with Relai—you can do a one-time purchase or savings plan: Click here. Use the referral code "ROCK" to reduce transaction fees by 0.1% while supporting Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll. Value4Value Podcast Streaming: Support our podcast by listening to our episodes on the Fountain Podcast App. This way, if you wish, you can support us "Value4Value" while listening to the podcast. You can find us on the Fountain Podcast App here: Click here Disclaimer: The content of this podcast reflects the private opinions of the hosts, serves exclusively for general information purposes and does not constitute investment advice. Always remember: Do your own research—inform yourself before making any investment decisions, such as buying Bitcoin. First try to understand what Bitcoin is and how to store it. This podcast does not provide financial advice. Note that the co-hosts might be invested in crypto assets. Read more on our website: Click here All links marked with "*" are affiliate links. If you use these links for purchase, the podcast receives a small share of the revenue without any additional costs to you. On the contrary, affiliate links often include discount promotions, so you can even save money. We would appreciate it if you use these links to support us. Thank you very much!

Xapo Bank's Joey Garcia on Libra's legacy, OpenUSD and the global race to regulate stablecoins What does effective regulation look like when technology evolves faster than the institutions governing it? In this episode of Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll, Jonas Gross and guest host Jonathan Knoll speak with Joey Garcia, Executive Director and Chief Strategy, Policy and Regulatory Affairs Officer at Xapo Bank. A pioneer in digital asset regulation, Garcia has helped shape Gibraltar’s blockchain framework, represented Xapo in the Libra/Diem Association and advised the United Nations on global blockchain and cryptocurrency standards. Garcia traces his journey back to 2014, when discussing Bitcoin with regulators could attract police officers rather than policy experts. His central argument remains highly relevant: the technology itself should not be the primary regulatory target. Policymakers should instead establish secure rules for the access points through which consumers and institutions interact with it. The conversation revisits Libra and the regulatory backlash triggered by its proposed synthetic currency and Facebook-led governance structure. Garcia argues that the project did not fail because of its technology or ambition. Its concentration of power and perceived challenge to monetary sovereignty created a political obstacle it could not overcome. Yet Libra accelerated regulatory initiatives that continue to shape today’s market. Open USD now revives parts of the consortium model under very different conditions. More than 140 participating companies could distribute the stablecoin through existing customer networks, while sharing reserve income rather than leaving it solely with the issuer. Garcia examines the strength of this incentive structure alongside possible tensions with the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act. The episode also explores Xapo Bank’s distinctive position between banking and crypto. Customers can transfer USDC or USDT into a US-dollar bank account, earn interest on their deposits and receive that interest in Bitcoin—an architecture designed to combine regulated banking safeguards with crypto-native functionality. Finally, Garcia compares the innovation-oriented US approach with more restrictive frameworks in the EU and UK, discusses the unresolved treatment of DeFi under MiCA and explains why self-custodial wallets must remain connected to the regulated financial system. Joey Garcia LinkedIn Xapo Bank Website Previous BFRR Episode with Christian Catalini Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Website Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Telegram Channel Relai*: Buy Bitcoin with Relai—you can do a one-time purchase or savings plan: Click here. Use the referral code "ROCK" to reduce transaction fees by 0.1% while supporting Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll. Value4Value Podcast Streaming: Support our podcast by listening to our episodes on the Fountain Podcast App. This way, if you wish, you can support us "Value4Value" while listening to the podcast. You can find us on the Fountain Podcast App here: Click here Disclaimer: The content of this podcast reflects the private opinions of the hosts, serves exclusively for general information purposes and does not constitute investment advice. Always remember: Do your own research—inform yourself before making any investment decisions, such as buying Bitcoin. First try to understand what Bitcoin is and how to store it. This podcast does not provide financial advice. Note that the co-hosts might be invested in crypto assets. Read more on our website: Click here All links marked with "*" are affiliate links. If you use these links for purchase, the podcast receives a small share of the revenue without any additional costs to you. On the contrary, affiliate links often include discount promotions, so you can even save money. We would appreciate it if you use these links to support us. Thank you very much!

Fireblock’s Ran Goldi Goldstein on OpenUSD, stablecoins, agentic commerce and the future of financial infrastructure with Fireblocks What happens after stablecoins move from fringe experiment to core financial infrastructure? In this episode of Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll, hosts Jonas Gross and Jonathan Knoll speak with Ran “Goldi” Goldstein, SVP of Payments and Network at Fireblocks, about blockchain payments, stablecoins and the work still required to bring digital money into the financial mainstream. Goldi reflects on his journey from ad tech and algorithmic trading into blockchain payments, explaining how inefficient global settlement convinced him that digital assets could reshape financial infrastructure. He also shares his perspective on the OpenUSD initiative, backed by more than 140 companies, and discusses why distribution, governance, regulation and liquidity will determine whether such projects succeed. The conversation then turns to a broader question: has the digital asset industry already won? Goldi argues that the industry has largely won the debate over why blockchain-based infrastructure matters. Banks and payment providers are no longer asking whether they should engage. The challenge is how to implement these systems in ways that create real value. The episode explores Fireblocks’ role as an infrastructure layer for wallets, tokenization and stablecoin payments, as well as the need for technical expertise inside financial institutions. Goldi explains why wallets remain the foundation of most digital asset use cases and why stablecoins are faster, but not necessarily cheaper, than traditional payment methods. Finally, the discussion looks ahead to agentic commerce, delegated wallet access and machine-initiated payments. Goldi offers a grounded view: AI agents may generate huge transaction volumes, but today the market remains experimental. In the lightning round, he identifies identity as one of the most underhyped topics in digital finance and explains how the Open Transaction Layer could add coordination, compliance and messaging for on-chain payments. Ran “Goldi” Goldshtein LinkedIn Fireblocks Website OTL Network Previous BFRR Episode with Christian Catalini Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Website Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Telegram Channel Relai*: Buy Bitcoin with Relai—you can do a one-time purchase or savings plan: Click here. Use the referral code "ROCK" to reduce transaction fees by 0.1% while supporting Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll. Value4Value Podcast Streaming: Support our podcast by listening to our episodes on the Fountain Podcast App. This way, if you wish, you can support us "Value4Value" while listening to the podcast. You can find us on the Fountain Podcast App here: Click here Disclaimer: The content of this podcast reflects the private opinions of the hosts, serves exclusively for general information purposes and does not constitute investment advice. Always remember: Do your own research—inform yourself before making any investment decisions, such as buying Bitcoin. First try to understand what Bitcoin is and how to store it. This podcast does not provide financial advice. Note that the co-hosts might be invested in crypto assets. Read more on our website: Click here All links marked with "*" are affiliate links. If you use these links for purchase, the podcast receives a small share of the revenue without any additional costs to you. On the contrary, affiliate links often include discount promotions, so you can even save money. We would appreciate it if you use these links to support us. Thank you very much!

Seven years, 400 hours, and 15 voices from Point Zero Forum on what comes next. 400 episodes. Seven years. One podcast tracking the transformation of money from the front row. In this milestone episode of Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll, Michael Blaschke, Manuel Klein, Jonas Gross, Stefan Grasmann and Jonathan Knoll look back on a journey that began in 2019 as a German-language experiment and evolved into a global platform for digital money, tokenization, institutional DLT and the architecture of finance. The team reflects on the guests, debates and turning points that shaped BFRR: from Libra and the rise of CBDCs to MiCA, stablecoins, tokenized deposits, DeFi and the move from experimentation toward institutional adoption. They revisit memorable conversations, discuss what they got right—and where timing proved harder to predict—and share what seven years of weekly publishing have taught them about technology, regulation and financial infrastructure. The second half takes listeners to the Point Zero Forum 2026 in Zurich, where BFRR served as an official media partner. The team shares its takeaways and brings together voices from finance, technology and policy around three questions: What was the most important idea at the conference? What surprised people or changed their minds? And what crucial topic is still missing from the conversation? The answers reveal an industry entering a new phase. Interoperability is increasingly a governance challenge, not merely a technical one. Stablecoins, tokenized deposits and central bank money may coexist rather than compete. Agentic payments are raising urgent questions around liability and identity. Post-quantum security is moving from a distant concern to a concrete deadline. Across the board, the focus is shifting from proofs of concept to production, scale and real economic use cases. Episode 400 is both a celebration and a reality check: progress has been slower than many expected, but the direction of travel is clearer than ever. The debate is no longer whether institutions will adopt digital assets and DLT, but how fast, on which infrastructure and under whose rules. Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Website Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Telegram Channel Inside the ECB’ s Digital Euro Project and Stablecoins with Ulrich Bindseil From Libra to Legitimacy: Circle’s Stablecoin R(e)volution From Citi Bank to Stablecoins: Tony McLaughlin's Bold Pivot Reclaiming Digital Sovereignty in Europe - and the Role of the Digital Euro Permissionless blockchains for financial services A journey through the era of digital money with Rod Garratt [US vs EU: The Stablecoin Policy Divide]x(https://open.spotify.com/episode/7D5r1pOxLf31tQDocCiTQi?si=kEZ1yZ7IRIm-bZWh0dx3LA)) Relai*: Buy Bitcoin with Relai—you can do a one-time purchase or savings plan: Click here. Use the referral code "ROCK" to reduce transaction fees by 0.1% while supporting Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll. Value4Value Podcast Streaming: Support our podcast by listening to our episodes on the Fountain Podcast App. This way, if you wish, you can support us "Value4Value" while listening to the podcast. You can find us on the Fountain Podcast App here: Click here Disclaimer: The content of this podcast reflects the private opinions of the hosts, serves exclusively for general information purposes and does not constitute investment advice. Always remember: Do your own research—inform yourself before making any investment decisions, such as buying Bitcoin. First try to understand what Bitcoin is and how to store it. This podcast does not provide financial advice. Note that the co-hosts might be invested in crypto assets. Read more on our website: Click here All links marked with "*" are affiliate links. If you use these links for purchase, the podcast receives a small share of the revenue without any additional costs to you. On the contrary, affiliate links often include discount promotions, so you can even save money. We would appreciate it if you use these links to support us. Thank you very much!

A deep dive into June's most relevant developments in institutional digital money and DLT. In this BFRR monthly briefing episode, Michael Blaschke and Manuel Klein look back at a brutal June for crypto markets and a surprisingly active month for institutional DLT, stablecoins and digital money. Bitcoin and Ethereum both ended deep in the red, the total crypto market cap fell sharply, and the hosts ask whether the sell-off is a bear-market signal, a liquidity stress alarm, or evidence that capital is rotating toward AI. They also unpack Michael Saylor’s symbolic sale of 32 Bitcoin, Jack Mallers’ “smoke alarm” thesis, BlackRock’s $9 trillion cash-on-the-sidelines argument and Vitalik Buterin’s push to make privacy a native Ethereum property. The episode then moves from markets to infrastructure. Stellar’s strategic investment in Frankfurt-based Cashlink highlights how regulated tokenized securities infrastructure is becoming a scarce and valuable asset in Europe. Digital Asset’s major funding round for Canton shows that banks, market infrastructures and crypto investors are converging around privacy-first networks for institutional adoption. On the money side, stablecoins continue their march into mainstream finance. MoneyGram launches MGUSD on Stellar for remittances, Italy’s Bancomat prepares a bank-backed euro stablecoin, Mastercard expands stablecoin settlement for card transactions, and reports suggest Mastercard, Stripe, Visa and Coinbase may be exploring a new stablecoin platform. The Clearing House’s tokenized deposit plans and the progress of mBridge add another layer to the race between private money, commercial bank money and central bank money. Finally, the hosts examine the widening transatlantic divide in regulation. In Europe, the ECB, European Commission, EBA and Bank of England sharpen their frameworks around stablecoins, MiCA and public settlement money. In the United States, Congress moves against a retail CBDC while policymakers increasingly frame dollar stablecoins as a tool of monetary power. The episode closes with knowledge bites on stablecoin transaction data and a critical German debate on the digital euro. Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Website Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Telegram Channel Knowledge Bite Michael: German Podcast Episode 385 of Daniel Stelter’s Beyond the Obvious: “Einfach überflüssig: der digitale Euro" Knowledge Bite Manuel: BIS Working Paper: Schär et al., The anatomy of Stablecoin transactions Relai*: Buy Bitcoin with Relai—you can do a one-time purchase or savings plan: Click here. Use the referral code "ROCK" to reduce transaction fees by 0.1% while supporting Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll. Value4Value Podcast Streaming: Support our podcast by listening to our episodes on the Fountain Podcast App. This way, if you wish, you can support us "Value4Value" while listening to the podcast. You can find us on the Fountain Podcast App here: Click here Disclaimer: The content of this podcast reflects the private opinions of the hosts, serves exclusively for general information purposes and does not constitute investment advice. Always remember: Do your own research—inform yourself before making any investment decisions, such as buying Bitcoin. First try to understand what Bitcoin is and how to store it. This podcast does not provide financial advice. Note that the co-hosts might be invested in crypto assets. Read more on our website: Click here All links marked with "*" are affiliate links. If you use these links for purchase, the podcast receives a small share of the revenue without any additional costs to you. On the contrary, affiliate links often include discount promotions, so you can even save money. We would appreciate it if you use these links to support us. Thank you very much!

Libra learnings, Bitcoin, Stablecoins, AI agents and the next financial infrastructure In this episode of Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll, co-host Jonas Gross and guest host Jonathan Knoll welcome Christian Catalini, one of the key architects behind Facebook’s Libra project, former head economist at Meta, co-founder of Lightspark, founder of the MIT Crypto Economics Lab, and one of the most influential voices at the intersection of digital money, stablecoins, Bitcoin, and artificial intelligence. The conversation begins with Libra: why it was built, why it failed, and why many of its core ideas are now resurfacing in today’s stablecoin regulation and infrastructure debates. Catalini reflects candidly on the project’s ambitions, its mistakes, its regulatory battles, and its lasting influence on frameworks such as the Genius Act. What looked premature in 2019 may now be becoming the foundation for the next phase of financial infrastructure. From there, the discussion turns to the rapidly changing stablecoin landscape. Catalini explains why banks, payment networks, fintechs, and crypto-native companies are moving toward tokenized deposits, neutral stablecoin networks, and interoperable payment rails. The episode explores the role of the US dollar, the future of euro stablecoins, Europe’s regulatory challenges under MiCA, and why open, programmable infrastructure could reshape global payments. The second half of the episode moves into AI and AGI. Drawing on his recent work on the economics of AGI, Catalini introduces the idea of verification as the central bottleneck in an economy where machines can generate endless output but humans still need to judge quality, safety, and trustworthiness. The conversation covers the future of junior jobs, education, financial services, AI agents, and why the next wave of innovation may depend on combining human judgment with increasingly powerful machine capabilities. Finally, the episode returns to Bitcoin and open networks. Catalini shares his view on Bitcoin’s role as infrastructure, the risks of quantum computing, and why the original crypto vision of openness and interoperability still matters. A wide-ranging conversation on Libra’s legacy, stablecoins, AI, Bitcoin, and the future architecture of money. May News Episode on Stablecoins in Europe: Christian Catalini LinkedIn Full paper “Some simple economics of AGI” Summary “Some simple economics of AGI” Forbes Article “Babysitting the Slop” Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Website Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Telegram Channel Point Zero Forum*: Join us in Zurich on 23–25 June 2026 at the Point Zero Forum, the annual gathering of 2,000+ policymakers, central bankers, regulators, and industry leaders at the intersection of finance, technology, and policy: Click here. Use the code "BFRR2026" to get 30% off the full-price Industry Pass. BFRR is proud media partner of the event. Relai*: Buy Bitcoin with Relai—you can do a one-time purchase or savings plan: Click here. Use the referral code "ROCK" to reduce transaction fees by 0.1% while supporting Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll. Value4Value Podcast Streaming: Support our podcast by listening to our episodes on the Fountain Podcast App. This way, if you wish, you can support us "Value4Value" while listening to the podcast. You can find us on the Fountain Podcast App here: Click here Disclaimer: The content of this podcast reflects the private opinions of the hosts, serves exclusively for general information purposes and does not constitute investment advice. Always remember: Do your own research—inform yourself before making any investment decisions, such as buying Bitcoin. First try to understand what Bitcoin is and how to store it. This podcast does not provide financial advice. Note that the co-hosts might be invested in crypto assets. Read more on our website: Click here All links marked with "*" are affiliate links. If you use these links for purchase, the podcast receives a small share of the revenue without any additional costs to you. On the contrary, affiliate links often include discount promotions, so you can even save money. We would appreciate it if you use these links to support us. Thank you very much!

GFTN’s Pat Patel on convening regulators, banks, and innovators to turn pilots into production-ready financial architecture. What happens when the next generation of financial infrastructure is shaped not by a single technology, but by the convergence of stablecoins, tokenization, artificial intelligence and, eventually, quantum computing? In this episode of Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll, Michael Blaschke and Stefan Grasmann speak with Pat Patel, CEO of the Global Finance & Technology Network (GFTN), about the forces rewiring global finance. Patel’s career has taken him from building the UK’s Faster Payments infrastructure at VocaLink to launching Money20/20 Europe, joining the Monetary Authority of Singapore and developing platforms for public-private dialogue. Today, he is a key figure behind the Singapore FinTech Festival and the Point Zero Forum in Zurich. The conversation explores why successful innovation depends on more than good technology. Timing, capital, regulation and the ability to translate between central banks, commercial banks, fintechs, crypto-native firms and software companies all play a role. Patel explains why the next technology cycle will be defined by AI, tokenization and quantum, and why their interplay could transform the architecture of financial services rather than simply add another layer to existing systems. The episode also examines the shifting stablecoin landscape. The United States is setting the pace, Europe is debating sovereignty, African markets are exploring local stablecoin models and regulators worldwide are confronting questions around cross-border corridors, reserves and interoperability. The discussion then turns to agentic finance: a future in which AI agents initiate transactions, manage workflows and interact with digital money under rules that are still being written. Ahead of the Point Zero Forum 2026, Patel shares what policymakers and industry leaders need to debate now: how different forms of digital money can coexist, how regulation can move from products to activities and how global finance can become more interoperable without creating new walled gardens. Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Website Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Telegram Channel Pat Patel on LinkedIn Michael Blaschke on LinkedIn Stefan Grasmann on LinkedIn Point Zero Forum: Join us in Zurich on 23–25 June 2026 at the Point Zero Forum, the annual gathering of 2,000+ policymakers, central bankers, regulators, and industry leaders at the intersection of finance, technology, and policy: Click here. Use the code "BFRR2026" to get 30% off the full-price Industry Pass. BFRR is proud media partner of the event. Relai: Buy Bitcoin with Relai—you can do a one-time purchase or savings plan: Click here. Use the referral code "ROCK" to reduce transaction fees by 0.1% while supporting Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll. Value4Value Podcast Streaming: Support our podcast by listening to our episodes on the Fountain Podcast App. This way, if you wish, you can support us "Value4Value" while listening to the podcast. You can find us on the Fountain Podcast App here: Click here Disclaimer: The content of this podcast reflects the private opinions of the hosts, serves exclusively for general information purposes and does not constitute investment advice. Always remember: Do your own research—inform yourself before making any investment decisions, such as buying Bitcoin. First try to understand what Bitcoin is and how to store it. This podcast does not provide financial advice. Note that the co-hosts might be invested in crypto assets. Read more on our website: Click here All links marked with "*" are affiliate links. If you use these links for purchase, the podcast receives a small share of the revenue without any additional costs to you. On the contrary, affiliate links often include discount promotions, so you can even save money. We would appreciate it if you use these links to support us. Thank you very much!

Stablecoins, tokenization, agentic payments and the future of financial infrastructure on Stellar Stablecoins are moving beyond crypto markets and becoming part of the financial system’s core infrastructure. In this episode of BFRR’s Digital Money Interview Series, co-host Jonas Gross and guest host Jonathan Knoll speak with José Fernández da Ponte, President and Chief Growth Officer at the Stellar Development Foundation and former Head of Blockchain and Digital Currencies at PayPal. Drawing on two decades in payments, banking and fintech, José explains why blockchain technology could reshape financial rails that still rely on decades-old systems. He describes blockchains as “Linux for payments”: open-source, permissionless infrastructure on which institutions, developers and fintech companies can build new products step by step. The conversation explores why stablecoins are gaining momentum now, from regulatory clarity and institutional confidence to emerging use cases in cross-border payments, treasury, payroll and commerce. José also discusses tokenized real-world assets and the shift in institutional conversations: the question is no longer whether assets such as money market funds can be tokenized, but how they can be distributed, used as collateral and integrated into markets. A major focus is Stellar’s role in institutional finance, including the announcement that DTCC plans to make tokenized assets available on Stellar. José explains what institutions look for in a blockchain: speed, liquidity, uptime, compliance tooling, risk controls and openness. The discussion then turns to agentic commerce. As AI agents begin to transact at machine speed, payment systems may need to support micropayments, streaming payments and higher transaction volumes. Finally, José outlines why privacy will be essential for on-chain payments and how configurable privacy, confidential tokens and selective disclosure could reconcile transparency with compliance. A conversation about rebuilding financial infrastructure from first principles — and why the future of money may depend on open, institutional-grade networks. Jose Fernandez da Ponte LinkedIn DTCC & Stellar Announcement Stellar Q1 2026 Report Stellar Website Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Website Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Telegram Channel Point Zero Forum: Join us in Zurich on 23–25 June 2026 at the Point Zero Forum, the annual gathering of 2,000+ policymakers, central bankers, regulators, and industry leaders at the intersection of finance, technology, and policy: Click here. Use the code "BFRR2026" to get 30% off the full-price Industry Pass. BFRR is proud media partner of the event. Relai: Buy Bitcoin with Relai—you can do a one-time purchase or savings plan: Click here. Use the referral code "ROCK" to reduce transaction fees by 0.1% while supporting Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll. Value4Value Podcast Streaming: Support our podcast by listening to our episodes on the Fountain Podcast App. This way, if you wish, you can support us "Value4Value" while listening to the podcast. You can find us on the Fountain Podcast App here: Click here Disclaimer: The content of this podcast reflects the private opinions of the hosts, serves exclusively for general information purposes and does not constitute investment advice. Always remember: Do your own research—inform yourself before making any investment decisions, such as buying Bitcoin. First try to understand what Bitcoin is and how to store it. This podcast does not provide financial advice. Note that the co-hosts might be invested in crypto assets. Read more on our website: Click here All links marked with "*" are affiliate links. If you use these links for purchase, the podcast receives a small share of the revenue without any additional costs to you. On the contrary, affiliate links often include discount promotions, so you can even save money. We would appreciate it if you use these links to support us. Thank you very much!

Europe’s stablecoin race, Lagarde’s doubts, and Washington’s Clarity Act push. Stablecoins are no longer a niche topic in digital finance. They are rapidly becoming a strategic question for banks, regulators and technology providers on both sides of the Atlantic. In this BFRR news episode, the hosts are joined once again by Maximilian Vargas from Blockstories to examine the most important developments of May. The discussion begins in Europe, where the Qivalis banking consortium has expanded significantly. With 37 participating banks from 15 countries, the initiative combines institutional credibility, distribution power and substantial funding. But can a large banking consortium turn these advantages into a widely used euro stablecoin, or will governance, licensing and go-to-market challenges slow it down? The episode also explores AllUnity’s multi-currency strategy and its move into agentic payments. As AI agents begin to transact autonomously, programmable and regulated stablecoins could become an important bridge between machine-to-machine commerce and the traditional financial system. Across the Atlantic, Circle is pursuing a different path. Its Arc blockchain signals a push toward vertical integration: instead of relying solely on third-party rails, the stablecoin issuer wants to build infrastructure for a tokenized financial economy. The hosts discuss what this means for Circle, Coinbase and the wider race to own the payment layer of the internet. The debate then turns to regulation. Christine Lagarde’s critical remarks highlight concerns around financial stability and monetary policy transmission, while the European Commission’s MiCA consultation opens the door to potential improvements. In the United States, the Clarity Act is gaining momentum but remains far from a done deal. Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Website Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll Telegram Channel Knowledge Bite Michael: IMF paper “Making Stablecoins Stable” Knowledge Bite Jonas: ECB LinkedIn Post Knowledge Bite Max: Institutional Crypto Lending Report Knowledge Bite Max: Spanish Digital Assets Ecosystem Report Point Zero Forum: Join us in Zurich on 23–25 June 2026 at the Point Zero Forum, the annual gathering of 2,000+ policymakers, central bankers, regulators, and industry leaders at the intersection of finance, technology, and policy: Click here. Use the code "BFRR2026" to get 30% off the full-price Industry Pass. BFRR is proud media partner of the event. Relai: Buy Bitcoin with Relai—you can do a one-time purchase or savings plan: Click here. Use the referral code "ROCK" to reduce transaction fees by 0.1% while supporting Bitcoin, Fiat & Rock’n’Roll. Value4Value Podcast Streaming: Support our podcast by listening to our episodes on the Fountain Podcast App. This way, if you wish, you can support us "Value4Value" while listening to the podcast. You can find us on the Fountain Podcast App here: Click here Disclaimer: The content of this podcast reflects the private opinions of the hosts, serves exclusively for general information purposes and does not constitute investment advice. Always remember: Do your own research—inform yourself before making any investment decisions, such as buying Bitcoin. First try to understand what Bitcoin is and how to store it. This podcast does not provide financial advice. Note that the co-hosts might be invested in crypto assets. Read more on our website: Click here All links marked with "*" are affiliate links. If you use these links for purchase, the podcast receives a small share of the revenue without any additional costs to you. On the contrary, affiliate links often include discount promotions, so you can even save money. We would appreciate it if you use these links to support us. Thank you very much!